Bull goes berserk in city market, five injured

BHUBANESWAR: A bull flew into rage at Indradhanu Market in Nayapally and gored five men, who are now being treated at a hospital here, on Monday. Condition of one the injured men, Purna Chandra Behera (55), a tea stall-owner is critical.

Cattle catchers of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had tough time placating the bull, which went on the rampage for nearly 15 minutes at the busy market. Eyewitnesses said the bull first attacked Behera, who was getting ready to open his shop.

"The animal attacked him with his horns and then tossed him in the air. The old man sustained injuries in his stomach, head and legs," said Janmajeya Sahoo, a street vendor said. "The bull then attacked whosoever came its way. We informed the BMC after failing to quell its anger," Sahoo said.

Passersby and vendors scurried for cover as the civic squad took nearly half an hour to capture the animal. The bull was left in the kine house, run by the BMC at Kharavela Nagar.

Earlier, the state government had asked the BMC to prepare an action plan to get rid of the bovine and canine menace in the city, worried over the explosion in their population. While the stray cattle population would be around 1,000 in the city, the strength of dogs stood at nearly 20,000.

People trained their guns on the civic body for failing to curb bovine and stray dog menace in the city. "No tangle step has been taken. Stray cattle and dogs often hamper traffic with their movement often leads to accidents, particularly at night," Tarak Prasad Mallick, a resident of Old Town area, where bovine menace is the order of the day.

BMC commissioner Sanjib Kumar Mishra said the corporation lacks modern equipment to catch the cattle and stray dogs. "At present, we catch them manually. We will explore the feasibility of modern methods to capture them," Mishra said.